Co-creating tomorrow’s cities in Africa: Participatory risk-informed urban planning for the future
This peer learning note documents the discussions, methodologies, insights and key recommendations coming out from a workshop organized by UCLG, Tomorrow's Cities and UCLG-Africa in September 2023. The gap between current capacity and the structures, skills and data needed at the local government level to plan for a future coming quickly towards us was at the heart of the discussions in this peer learning. Looking into the future in a context of rapid urbanization and climate change requires engaging with a longer time frame for planning and exploring different possible future scenarios. This, in turn, demands robust datasets, systematic procedures for data analysis and grounded assumptions, inclusive and innovative participatory processes, among other strategies.
The publication provides the following takeaways and recommendations:
- Balance past, present and future in planning: Knowledge generated by past events may not be enough to understand the future. Likewise, current populations and governments must find ways to balance the needs of the present with policies that look at impacting and protecting future generations.
- Inclusion, equality and transparency are key for democratic futures: When the future horizon is expanded, participatory planning brings up new questions in terms of inclusion, equity and transparency. Inclusion here refers to the fact that different voices should be heard during decision making, with an attention to power imbalances.
- Strengthen local partnerships to build capacities and address future risks: In these processes, LRGs can benefit from building collaborative partnerships with local academic institutions, community organizations, humanitarian agencies, and other stakeholders to enhance future-oriented, risk-informed planning.